Race for carbon during the switch of plant pathogenic bacteria from planktonic growth to colonisation (A08)

• Subject Area: Metabolism, Biochemistry and Genetics of Microorganisms ; Organismic Interactions, Chemical Ecology and Microbiomes of Plant Systems
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 458090666

Competition for host nutrients, in particular for carbohydrates, shapes both intra- and interspecies networking. Pathogenic bacteria cause bacterial blight in rice only after inducing sucrose release from host cells, triggered by effector-mediated induction of sucrose uniporter genes. In this project, we will analyse and modulate sugar acquisition and signalling pathways of the bacteria, and the role of nutrition and signalling in intraspecies interactions and the competition between different strains in vitro and during host infection. Key tools are sensors and reporters for metabolites, energy status and signalling intermediates, optogenetic switches, in conjunction with imaging-based analyses in microfluidic platforms to explore spatiotemporal dynamics of organismal interactions.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1535: Microbial networking – from organelles to cross-kingdom communities
• Applicant Institution: Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Wolf-Bernd Frommer